"... So?"
"Are you kidding me?! Of course I can do it! With everything you've given me... Oh, this is going to be SUCH a delight!"
"..."
"Honestly, you should really try having some more fun with this! It isn't every day a wonderfully evil scheme is hatched! Let's see a smile on that... Hm... You know what? Forget the smile."
"... I trust there will be no difficulties?"
"Of course not! I can't think of a single thing that could stop me! Well, alright, I can think of six things, but they won't prove much of a nuisance. ... Can you at least let off an evil laugh?"
"..."
"A chuckle?"
"... Do it."
Twilight was shuffling a deck of cards when she heard a knock on the door. Spike, who was also engaged in shuffling his own cards, gave an annoyed groan. "You've gotta be kidding me! We were just about to start!"
The unicorn set the cards she was levitating on a nearby table. "Sorry, Spike. But what do you want me to do? Just not answer the door?"
"Um... Yes?"
Twilight rolled her eyes as she trotted over to the front entrance. Spike was being a little overenthusiastic, as usual. Twilight couldn't help but smile at the way the baby dragon wanted to drop everything and play, even if it meant leaving the door unanswered whenever some pony came knocking.
Pulling the door open, Twilight was surprised to see five friendly faces staring back at her. "Oh, hey girls, what are you doing...?”
"Nopony's home, go away!"
Twilight groaned. Spike was sitting impatiently at her table, arms crossed and foot tapping on the seat. "Spike..."
Applejack chuckled. "Thanks fer the kind welcome. We ain't interuptin' anything important, are we?"
Twilight shook her head. "Of course not, Spike's just a little..." She glanced over her shoulder at the dragon that had a look more cross then an x. "... Impatient. Come on in."
Spike threw his hands up in the air. "Well, I guess we won't get to play till tomorrow! Great!"
"What in Equestria are you prattling on about?" asked Rarity, as she and the others proceeded through the doorway.
"A game?" Rainbow Dash's wings perked up. She let off a sly grin. "Anything I can beat you in?"
"A game? I like games! And parties! And cupcakes! But ESPECIALLY games!" Pinkie Pie squealed for joy.
Fluttershy was looking around the room. "I don't see anything to play with. There's no balls, or hula-hoops ..."
"Well, duh!" Spike rolled his eyes, as though whatever it was the five were puzzling about was common knowledge. "You don't see any of that because, in this game, we use this!" He held a deck of cards over his head, as though Celestia herself would come down and shower light upon it.
The five ponies stared.
"... That's it?!" Rainbow Dash cried. "We're going to play with a little stack of PAPER!? That's stupid!"
"Maybe it's confetti?" Pinkie Pie pondered.
Applejack shot the pegasus a look, before saying, "Look, I'm sure you've got a great game there, but I reckin' Rainbow's kinda right. What are you going to do with something barely bigger then ma hoof?"
"Let me explain..." Twilight pulled a stool up to the table with her magic before sitting down. "Me and Spike were visiting this new card shop that just opened up in town."
"Oh, you mean... Um... I'm sorry , I forgot the name..." Fluttershy gave a sheepish grin.
Applejack cocked her head, and squinted her eyes as though the memory she was looking for was just in sight, but she couldn't quite make it out. "I think I know what yer talkin' about. It's that little place near Stirrup Street, right?"
Twilight nodded. "It's called 'All for One Collectibles’. Like I said, it just opened. I heard they sold some books, so I went to check it out with Spike. Next thing I know, I've bought a whole bunch of cards, and Spike and I have been playing for... What time is it?"
"Five-thirty." said Rarity.
Twilight's eyes widened. "Is that the time?! We've been at this for a good four hours!"
"Yeah!" Spike let out an enthusiastic cry. "At first we were using some of the starter decks the store had, but then we decided to open all the boosters and try to make our own decks! And mine is AWESOME!"
"Hold your hay!" laughed Applejack, getting a kick out of how excited Spike was getting. "Y'all haven't told us the name of the game!"
Twilight scooped her deck off the table and began shuffling it with her magic. "It's called 'Magic: The Gathering'. Some ponies over in Mareington run this company called 'Unicorns of the Coast'. They make a variety of games, or at least that's what the store owner told me. I've never really played these types of games before."
Spike grumbled, "And you never will if you keeping talking! C'mon, I want to play my new deck so bad!"
Twilight glared at the dragon, who was acting just like the baby he was. "We have company, Spike! I'm not just going to shove them out the door just so we can play!"
"Actually..." A tiny voice interrupted the conversation. All eyes turned to Fluttershy, who let out a little 'Eep!'. "I was just wondering if maybe I could... Watch? The game sounds interesting; maybe I’d like to play."
"Actually," added Rarity. "This game you speak of has me intrigued. Perhaps we all can watch, and get a gist for how the game works?"
The others nodded in agreement, with Pinkie being especially vigorous.
"Alright. If you want to, that's fine with me." Twilight set her now thoroughly shuffled deck in front of her on the table. "Okay Spike, could you cut my deck?"
"It's fine! Let's just start already!"
Twilight levitated the top seven cards off the top of the deck and held them in front of her.
Spike was looking at his cards with a maniac grin. "Ha! With these cards, there's no way I can lose!"
Under her breath, the unicorn muttered, "Glad to see you aren't getting too cocky." Then, to her friends, she explained, "I’ll try to explain what you do as we go along. The first thing is to draw seven cards. If you don't like what you picked up, you can shuffle your hand back into the deck and draw a new hand. The rules say you're supposed to draw one less card every time you do this, but Spike and I are just playing for fun, so we don't worry about that."
"Speak for yourself!"
"... Okay, I'm playing for fun. Also, I'm the one whom Celestia entrusted this library to, and I can kick one certain dragon out if he starts being a jerk."
Spike slumped back in his chair as the other ponies giggled. "Alright, I get the point. Can I go first?"
Twilight nodded. "Be my guest."
Rainbow looked pumped. "If Spike's so excited about this, I bet this game is going to be epic! C'mon, what are you going to play?!"
Spike shot her a daring smile, and, with gusto, laid down a card and shouted, I play a land!"
A moment passed. "Well, that was exciting." the pegasus said, sarcastically. "What are you going to play next, the 'Mighty Hoe'?"
"No offense, Twi," Applejack said. "I know I'm a farmer and all, but even I don't think a game about land is exciting."
"Oh, it's not all about lands." Twilight continued her explanation. "You see, in order to play other cards you have to pay their cost. And to pay that cost, you have to 'tap' the right lands. Tap means you turn a card on its side to show it's been used. When you tap a land, you produce 'mana' of the appropriate color- there's five colors by the way, white, blue, green, red, and black- and this mana is what you use to pay for your cards. You get to un-tap everything during the start of your next turn. Also, you can only put one land on the field each turn, and-"
"Stop." Rarity used one of her hooves to rub her temple. "Perhaps you should just tell us the goal of the game. What are you even trying to do?"
"I've got this!" shouted Spike enthusiastically, and before Twilight could say anything he jumped up onto the table, nearly causing the two decks to topple over. In a booming voice, Spike proclaimed, "YOU are a mighty planeswalker, a gifted wizard that can travel between dimensions, casting mighty spells, summoning ferocious creatures, and-"
"Each player starts with twenty life, and the first player to either run out of life, cards in their deck, or get ten poison counters loses."
Spike, deflated, climbed down from the table back onto his seat. "You take all the fun out if it, Twilight." he muttered. "Can I keep doing my turn?"
"Nopony's stopping you."
"Right. So let's see, I just put down a Copper Line Gorge, so I can..." Spike scanned his hand, before turning the land on its side and laying down one of his cards. "Check it out! I tap my land to play Dragon Master Outcast!"
Rainbow Dash shrugged. "I guess that sounds cool."
Twilight wasn't quite as concerned about how cool the card was, as opposed to what it did. "Alright. One mana for a 1/1. Any abilities?"
Spike gave her a wry smile. "Oh. Just a little one. During my upkeep, if I've got six or more lands, I can put a 5/5 flying dragon token on the field."
Twilight gulped. A powerful ability to say the least.
"I give. What do those numbers mean?" Rainbow asked.
"Oh, that's the creature's power and toughness. The power is how much damage they deal, and toughness is how much damage they can take." Twilight turned her mind back to the game. I'll just need to beat him before he puts down six lands. Easy... Right?
"I end my turn."
"Okay." Twilight continued her quick Magic tutorial. "Girls, listen up. Each player's turn goes like this; First is your upkeep, where you un-tap all your cards. Then is your draw phase, where you draw one card from your deck. Then it's your first main phase, which is when you can play creatures, sorceries, artifacts, and enchantments. Then it's your combat phase, which is when you can attack with your creatures. After that it's your second main phase, which is basically the same as the first one. Finally is your end phase, which is when, well, your turn ends. Got it?"
"If I just smile and say I did, would you believe me?" Rarity asked tentatively.
Twilight sighed, and then proceeded with her turn, putting down a land called Seachrome Coast. I can tap this for either one blue or white mana. And that Copperline Gorge Spike has can be tapped for either a red or green mana. Hm. I wonder what kind of deck he's running... Well, I've only got one card I can play right now. So here goes nothing! "I tap my land for Sage of Epityr!" Twilight put her creature down on the table, which showed a picture of a mysterious cloaked figure in blue. "When he comes into play, I get to look at the top four cards of my deck and put them back in any order I want."
Spike shrugged. "So what? If he can't somehow smash the other player to bits, he's not worth putting in the deck."
We'll see about that. Twilight picked up the top four cards. There were three creatures and an instant, which would be handy since an instant can be activated at any time. Twilight took another look at her hand. She had two lands -an Island and a plains-, two instants - both Streams of Unconsciousness-, and two creatures - Student of the Elements and Augury Adept-. Finally deciding on an order, Twilight put the four cards back on top of the deck. Spike thinks controlling what's going to happen isn't important? Perhaps he's going to learn an important lesson before this is over. "I end."
Spike drew a card. "I play Rootbound Crag. It can give me either red or green mana, but... Unless I have a Mountain or Plains, it comes into play tapped. And I, uh, kinda can't do anything else. Your turn."
Rainbow Dash yawned. "Riveting."
"I KNOW! Did you see the way he played that land?!" Pinkie Pie was highly entertained by Spike's maneuvers, much to the puzzlement of the others.
Twilight drew a card, and put down a land, a Plains. "I'll tap two for my Student of Elements." Twilight laid down a creature. It was a scrawny figure with light red robes that looked as though he hardly belonged on the battlefield.
Spike took a single glance at the card and began laughing. "You paid two! For a 1/1! What's it going to do, study me to death?"
"Don't you want to know his ability?"
"Pfft! No!"
"Then go ahead. Your turn."
The other ponies exchanged glances.
"Why do I get the feelin'," Applejack said. "That that scrawny... Um, whatever it is has a lot more to him than it appears?"
Rarity gave a polite cough to attract Twilight's attention. "Twilight? What are those weird, fleshy things on the cards?"
"Oh, uh..." The unicorn took a close look at the card. "Each creature has a 'creature type', and this one says it's a 'human wizard'. I guess a human is some sort of fantasy race that somepony over at 'Unicorns of the Coast' came up with."
Rarity gave the card a frown. "Hideous thing. How does one even sew clothes for it?"
Spike drew a card, and put down another land. "I play Woodland Cemetery. It gives me either one black or one green mana. But since I don't have a Forest or a Swamp, it comes into play tapped."
"I think I sense a pattern here." muttered Applejack.
Twilight raised her eyebrow. "So, are you going to end your turn then?"
"No!" huffed Spike in irritation. "I've got a sweet creature to play! I tap two for my Kargan Dragonlord!" With glee, Spike put down a creature, a warrior on the back of a giant, fire breathing dragon. "Sure, he's only a 2/2. For now! But he's got this cool ability called level up! For each red mana I pay, I can put a level counter on him, and once he gets eight level counters, you’re not gonna be Twilight Sparkle. You're going to be Twilight, uh, Burn-cle!"
"…Really?"
"What? Twilight Sparkle. I can't work with that. I end."
Twilight drew a card. She was starting to get concerned about Spike's creatures. Sure, they were weak now, but give them just a few turns... "I play an Island, and I tap all my lands so I can play Bant Battlemage." This creature was a magic-wielding human in white attire, in the middle of a ferocious battle with some unseen opponent. "She's a 2/2, and I can tap her and pay one blue mana to give one of my creatures flying till the end of the turn. I'm done."
Spike was still unimpressed. Picking up a card, he put down another Woodland Cemetery. Still lacking a Forest or Swamp, he put it into play tapped. He didn't even bother playing a card, opting instead to tap two of his lands to level up his Dragonlord twice. "That's all for now."
Back to Twilight. She drew a card. "Blast..." she muttered.”I only have three lands. If I had just one more..." But that was okay. Because even without that land, Twilight was still in a good mood.
"Um, Twilight?" asked Spike nervously. "Why are you smiling? You're supposed to be cowering in fear."
"I'm smiling," Twilight answered, "Because you're about to learn why you should never underestimate a card. I tap my Island and Bant Battlemage to give Student of the Elements flying."
"Hah! So? That's like giving some little bug flying, it doesn't hurt me!"
"When Student of Elements has flying, I flip him..."
"... What."
"I flip him upside down. He's now a different creature named Tobias, Master of Winds."
"... What."
"A 3/3 that gives all my creatures flying." Sure enough, the artwork now depicted a mighty wizard clothed in white, soaring like a jet through the sky.
Rainbow Dash grinned. "Flying? Now we're getting somewhere!"
"But, uh... What does flying do? If you don't mind telling me..." asked Fluttershy nervously.
Spike's jaw was currently on the table, but he managed to put it back into place. "Creatures with flying can't be blocked by creatures without flying..."
Twilight smiled smugly. "And how many flying creatures do you have, Spike?"
"... None."
"I attack you for four damage. Flying." Twilight tapped her Sage of Epityr and Tobias, Master of Winds, aka the transformed Student of Elements.
"Oh!" cried Pinkie Pie. "Attack with your Battlemage, too!"
Twilight turned to look at Pinkie. "I can't. You have to tap a creature to have it attack. I had to tap my Battlemage in order to use its ability."
"I may or may not have understood what you said!" replied Pinkie Pie enthusiastically.
The unicorn let out a sigh before asking Spike, "So what do you do?"
The dragon grumbled. "What CAN I do? I'll just take the four damage." Spike's life dropped by four, leaving him at sixteen. But will I kill him fast enough before that Dragonmaster Outcast starts spewing tokens like a water fountain? And not to mention that Dragonlord...
"Uh, Twilight?" Twilight blinked her eyes a few times, noticing the white unicorn that was staring at her, looking concerned. "Dear, are you alright?"
"Um, yeah, sorry. I monologue in my head sometimes while I'm playing card games. Don't mind me. Uh, before I end, I'm going to tap two for my Jushi Apprentice." Twilight played a robed figure, which was in the middle of studying a text she had in hand. "She's a 1/2, and if I pay three and tap her, I can draw a card. If I have eight cards in my hand, I can flip her, just like my Student of Elements. Your turn, Spike."
"Thank you!" he said, plucking a card off the top of his deck. "Just what I needed. Another card that flips... Alright, I'll play my land, Dragonskull Summit!"
"Let me guess. No mountains. No Forests. No Swamps. Comes into play tapped?"
"Yes... But it doesn't matter!" Spike tapped two of his lands to level up his Dragonlord twice more, putting him at level four. "And that means," Spike smirked. "He's hit his second stage. He's no longer a plain old 2/2. He's a 4/4! And guess what?" Twilight didn't like where this was going. "He has flying." Tapping another two lands, Spike added, "And it gets better! I also play my Dragon Fangs!"
"Sounds scary..." murmured Fluttershy, backing away from the table.
Spike let off an evil chuckle. "Be afraid! For this little enchantment enchants one specific creature, giving it +1/+1 to their power and toughness, and trample! So if you block, I still deal the difference in damage to you! I think it’ll go on my… Dragonlord. That’s bout right.” Spike slid the card underneath his flying 4/4, to show it was enchanted. “I'll let you off easy this turn. I won't attack! Go ahead."
Drawing a card, Twilight examined the field nervously. That Dragonlord would easily kill any creature that was sent to attack Spike. Granted, he could only block one creature for every blocker he had, but that creature could easily be her Tobias. Not only that, but Spike needed only one more land before he could start pumping out an army of dragons. The only thing Twilight could do was hope for the best. "I tap three and my Jushi in order to draw a card." Lighthouse Chronologist. That wouldn't be useful at all. Twilight could feel all her friends eyes on her as she said, "I end."
The air was tense as Spike picked up his next card. He frowned. "Oh... Not a land. Guess I can let you live for a little bit longer."
"Gee, thanks..."
"I'll level up my Dragonlord three more times, and end my turn!"
But why wasn't he attacking? Wait a second... He may have the biggest creature, but I have something better. I have an army.
Twilight drew, and after a quick glance at her hand put down her Lighthouse Chronologist, an elderly man leaning on the ramparts of some old, stone structure. If Twilight could get seven level up counters on him, she'd be able to get an extra turn after each of Spike's turns, but that wasn't her plan. "I'll attack with my Sage of Epityr, Tobias, and Bant Battlemage."
"Fine." said Spike, cracking his knuckles. “Prepare to lose all your flyers! I block Tobias with my Dragonlord."
"Oh really?"
"Um, yeah. Really." Spike leaned back in his chair, enjoying his little victory. "Sorry Twilight, but I guess you're going to have to work without your Tobias. And no Tobias means all your creatures lose flying. Too bad."
"I tap one. Activate Stream of Unconsciousness."
Spike's eyes widened in disbelief. "What?!"
"Your Dragonlord loses four power till the end of the turn. Therefore, he can't kill Tobias. Oh, and since I have a wizard on the field, - they're all wizards, you see- I get to draw a card. Now, you were saying?" Spike mumbled as his life dropped from sixteen to thirteen. "I see you’re speechless. I'm going to play the land I just drew and end my turn."
"Excellent show, Twilight!" proclaimed Rarity. Spike gave a loud cough. Turning to him, Rarity gave Spike a sheepish grin and said, "Oh, and, um, excellent blockage. Good job!"
"You don't need to go an say that, Rarity!" Applejack interjected. "After all, if Spike's gonna be all high and mighty with his dragons, he deserves ta be knocked down a notch!"
Spike’s next card wasn't a land either. "But there is something I can do." Spike tapped three, putting down a creature that was dressed in rags, standing next to a dragon. "I'll play Dragonspeaker Shaman. All my dragons that cost a ton of mana? Yeah, they all cost two less now." Twilight groaned. That's just what she needed, more dragons! "Also, I'm going to level up my Dragonlord to level eight. You know what that means?" Twilight gave a reluctant nod. "Let's do the math; including the Dragon Fangs, and now that he’s at stage three, my Dragonlord is now a 9/9, both flying and trample. And guess what? I'm going to attack!"
Twilight thought about blocking for a second, but then thought better of it. The Dragonlord had trample, making any of her blocks next to useless. "I'll... Take the nine." A collective gasp was let out by the group, while Spike let out a triumphant "Ha ha!" Twilight couldn't help but roll her eyes at the melodrama. What, was the fate of Equestria riding on her winning, or something?
Drawing a card, the unicorn put down a land. "Reliquary Tower provides one colorless mana, and gives me no limit to my hand size. Oh, girls, the maximum hand size you can have is seven. You discard extra cards at the end of your turn."
"Um, Twi?" Applejack pitched in. "I don't think that's gonna help much."
"I know what I'm doing!" I think... "I'll level up my Lighthouse Chronologist two levels, and I'll also play my Augury Adept." A female clothed in a muted green, with a billowing green cape came out. "It's simple. She's a 2/2, whenever she deals damage to you, I look at the top card of my deck, increase my life by the card's cost, and add it to my hand."
"Yeah," Rainbow muttered. "Real simple."
"And also, I'm going to attack with Jushi, Tobias, Epityr, and Bant Battlemage."
The corners of Spike's mouth dropped just like his life total, leaving him at five. "Yeah, well, just wait till next turn! ... It is my turn, right?"
"Yes."
"Alright..." Drawing a card, Spike began smiling. "Guess what? I just drew a land." And with that, he slapped down another Rootbound Crag, which he played tapped. "And also..." To Twilight's horror, Spike played a second Dragonmaster Outcast. "Next upkeep, I'll get two 5/5 dragons! What now?"
Twilight's mind raced. She would be dealing with 5/5 flyers on Spike's next turn. Her forces would be wiped out, along with her life... How could she...? Oh, duh. The answer's so simple. He'll have two dragons, yeah. But that’s NEXT turn. Twilight smiled. As for right now... "Is it my turn?"
Spike laughed. "Yeah! And your last!"
"I agree."
The little dragon scratched the side of his head. "... Huh?"
Suddenly, Rarity's eyes lit up. "I see it!"
Spike's head swung around. "What?! What do you see?!"
"Um, Spike...?" Fluttershy murmured. "Just a little, teeny suggestion, if you're willing to take it. Um... Have you taken a look at your blockers?"
Twilight watched with a look of satisfaction as Spike quickly started doing the math. "Only my Dragonlord can block, so that means..." His eye's widened as the realization suddenly hit him. "If you attack with all your creatures, then..." Frantically, Spike began turning his creatures sideways. "I... I attack! With all my guys, except that Dragonmaster that just came into play! For twelve damage!"
"Why can't...?" began Rainbow, before Twilight interrupted him.
"Summoning sickness. The first turn a creature comes out, it can't be tapped except by another card's effect. And since you tap to attack with a creature, it effectively can’t attack. As for you, Spike... I'll take the damage from your Dragonmaster and you Dragonlord, but I'll block your Dragonspeaker Shaman with my Lighthouse Chronologist. He's a 1/3, while your Shaman is a 2/2, so neither dies." Twilight glanced at her friends, who returned inquiring gazes. "Whenever two creatures fight, you subtract each creature's power from the other creature's toughness. If a creature's toughness hits zero, it dies and goes to the graveyard."
"Graveyard?" Applejack's eyebrow rose. "Next thing you'll be tellin' me is that there's zombies in the game, too!"
"Erm... Let's move on." Twilight had taken the brunt of the attack, her life now at one, an inch away from a loss. But she wasn't concerned. "I'm assuming it's my turn."
Spike nodded glumly.
"In that case..." Twilight tapped all her creatures, a massive army converging on Spike's remaining five life. "I hit you for ten damage. I believe the game…” She grinned. “Is mine."
Twilight's friends let out a cheer as Spike slumped back in his chair, grumbling. "Why are you all rooting for her? Aren't I your friend, too?"
"Sorry, Spike," Rarity smiled apologetically. "But one can't help but cheer for the underdog, you know?"
"Hrmph." Spike wasn’t convinced. "I was going to win! You just got... lucky! Yeah, that's right! It was all luck!"
Somewhere, a small crack grew larger. A laugh echoed through the air, which seemed to reach like a skeleton's hand out to grab the attention of all nearby. It was a small laugh, but it still could chill all who heard it to the bone...
"You're just being a sore loser, Spike." The dragon gave Twilight a grumpy glare. "You're not going to win all the time. Don't take it so seriously!"
After a moment, Spike let out a sigh. "I guess your right..."
"It's not like you can't play again!" chimed in Pinkie Pie. "Oh! I want to play too! Can I have a deck?!"
"Yeah!" smirked Dash. "This doesn't look so hard! I bet I could beat both of you at the same time!"
Twilight gave a polite smile. "I appreciate your enthusiasm, but Magic is tough to master. I'm not sure you'll be able to match my skill level."
The five exchanged glances.
"Okay, Miss 'I Don't Like to Boast'," Rarity jabbed. "It's good to see you haven't let all this go to your head."
"Didn't you just get the cards this mornin'?" Applejack gave Twilight a questioning look. "Yer tellin' me you've gotten the entire game down in just a couple a hours?"
Quickly, Twilight realized her mistake. "I, uh, didn't mean it like that..."
"C'mon!" shouted Rainbow Dash, starting towards the door. "Obviously we're not smart enough for Twilight!"
"Wait! That came out wrong!" the unicorn shouted after her friends.
Fluttershy squeaked, "Thanks for having us..." before closing the door behind her, leaving Spike and Twilight alone.
The five ponies began walking back to Sugarcube Corner. Their plan originally was to grab a certain cook book from the library, but all that was forgotten after that Magic game started.
"Who does she think she is..." mumbled the rainbow pegasus, kicking at a rock as they walked along.
"Maybe we were a bit hasty..." Fluttershy tentatively said. "I'm sure she didn't mean to insult us... We are her friends, after all."
Rarity mulled over that last statement. "I suppose so. Twilight must be feeling absolutely awful! Perhaps we should go back and apologize."
Pinkie Pie stopped, letting out a gasp. "I have. The best. Idea. EVER!" Turning to the others, she let out a squeal of joy. "How about we all meet tomorrow at that card shop and MAKE OUR OWN DECKS! Then we can prove to Twilight we're just as good as she is!"
Rainbow Dash grinned. "Awesomness! Then I'll be able to beat everypony with ease!”
Applejack laughed. "Oh really? What makes you think yer gonna have the best deck?"
"Exactly!" added Rarity. "That title will belong to ME of course!"
The five continued down the street, arguing over who would reign supreme in the end. Except for Fluttershy. She just kept to herself.
"... Okay, that didn't go so well."
Spike shrugged. "I'm sure they'll get over it. So..." He gave Twilight a mischievous smile. "Up for another game?"
"No thanks." Twilight levitated her deck onto the top shelf of one of her bookcases, next to her extra cards. "Four hours is enough for me."
"Oh... Well, could you at least grab my deck for me?" Twilight floated the dragon deck over to the shelf, setting it by her own pile of cards. Spike seemed to be lost in thought for a moment. Suddenly, his eyes lit up. "You know what would be so cool?! C'mon, guess!"
"Oh, um, a book about-"
"If there was some sort of cool device that could create, like, full size versions of what's on the cards! Like, real, life size dragons!"
Twilight tilted her head in confusions. "What, you mean like some sort of advanced illusion spell?"
Spike nodded excitedly. "Yeah! Kind of like that! You'd see battles acted out right before your own eyes! It'd be awesome!" He had a dopey grin just from picturing the possibilities in his head. "I can see it now! It'd be something you'd wear on your arm, with a slot for your deck and stuff. I'd call it... the Battle Diskette!"
Twilight rolled her eyes at the insane fantasy of Spike's. "Come on, a highly technical device designed just for the enrichment of a card game? Why in Equestria would anypony ever make that? All the money and resources it would take to make such a thing... It's inconceivable!" There was a moment of silence. “…Right?”
Featured Decks:
Here are the full deck recipes for both Spike and Twilight, so take a look, and feel free to leave a comment on what you'd do to make the decks better. I'd love to hear all of your opinions! These decks are a bit more on the thematic side, so I didn't really pursue more cookie cutter cards, but I'd still like to here what you think. All decks are created in a constructed format, where anything goes. However, the decks I made are purposefully not overpowered. Theme comes first.
Twilight's Getting Better All the Time Deck
When I making Twilight's deck, I was originally just going to go with a plain, regular wizard deck. But when perusing through the wizards, I noticed there was a good deal of cards with the Level Up mechanic. Besides just liking the mechanic by itself, the thought occurred to me, "Wait a tic. Twilight is all about trying to learn more and become better at whatever she aims for. These cards are just like that, needing time and patience to reach their full potential." BAM! I had a theme going! While I was at it, I included some of the cards with the flip mechanic (like Student of Elements) which also become better over time. Overall, this is probably one of my favorite decks that I made for the story because it just feels like a lot of fun to play. I'd totally run this in my casual group if I had the money to get it.
Anyway, in addition to Level Up and Wizard Support, I've also given the deck plenty of draw potential to get hand advantage, and to make it easier to flip Jushi Apprentice. Once she's flipped, the deck can either generate mass card advantage or proceed to rapidly mill the opponent's deck.
Total: 60 Cards
Lands: 23
6 Island
6 Plains
4 Seachrome Coast
3 Reliquary Tower
4 Glacial Fortress
Creatures: 29
2 Archivist
2 Augury Adept
2 Lighthouse Chronologist
2 Sage of Epityr
2 Student of Elements
4 Venerated Teacher
3 Enclave Cryptologist
4 Bant Battlemage
2 Champion's Drake
2 Jushi Apprentice
2 Transcendent Master
2 Student of Warfare
Other Spells: 8
4 Sage's Dousing
4 Stream of Unconsciousness
Spike's All Grown Up Deck
Would you believe I was thinking of having Spike run a black Zombie deck at first? I must've been tired.
Anyway, for Spike's deck I decided to aim for (Surprise!) dragons. After studying what I had available, I decided to include some baby dragons as a reflection on Spike (along with having some cheaper dragons to use), and I threw in some cards to help get dragons to the field easier.
The deck is a bit frustrating because of the special lands usually coming into play tapped, effectively putting you a turn behind the opponent, in a way. Perhaps I should put in more regular lands in replacement for the special ones?
Also, considering the relatively decent number of devour cards in the deck (Tokens produced by Dragon Broodmother and Hellkite Hatchling.), I've been thinking about taking out some enchantments (particularly Dragon Roost and Death by Dragons) in favor of a few more copies of Dragon Fodder. This would help get me some more earlier blockers too, just in case I needed them.
Total: 60 Cards
Lands: 24
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
4 Copperline Gorge
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Woodland Cemetery
1 Swamp
1 Forest
2 Mountain
Creatures: 24
2 Furnace Whelp
2 Hellkite Hatchling
2 Broodmate Dragon
2 Dragon Broodmother
4 Dragonmaster Outcast
4 Dragonspeaker Shaman
4 Kargan Dragonlord
2 Moltensteel Dragon
2 Hellkite Overlord
Other Spells: 12
4 Dragon Arch
1 Dragon Fangs
1 Dragon Roost
1 Dragon Shadow
1 Form of the Dragon
2 Crucible of Fire
1 Death by Dragons
1 Dragon Fodder